Tales of the Groundbound: KOL Black, Chapter 18

[steuben]

Chapter 18

Khenry looked at the kerbals and kerbalinas scattered in the lecture theatre. “So many more than the six we started with,” he thought. “And all of them with more black time than me.” He chuckled. “Not that that means much.”

In two weeks the theatre would be packed past capacity. The announcement about the KOL Program would be made by Director Direc. But, it would be fleshed out by the dapper one with the cane. The kerbal who still believed in the program despite the fact it almost killed him. He wondered occasionally if it was one of Walt’s creations or if he really did believe.

Khenry rapped the stage for attention with his cane.

“Alright folks,” he said. “Welcome to the KOL introductory briefing.” He pressed a button on the remote in his hand. The first slide click-clacked into place. “Rated capacity five, one engineer, four scientists. Supplies for three months. Longer if you eat the snacks you don’t like first.”

There was chuckling from the crowd.

“This is the initial arrangement. More modules will be added to expand capacity and capability.

“The initial rotation will be engineer heavy until we’re sure it’s working and all the bolts are tight.”

He pressed a button and moved to another slide. It showed arrows from Kerbin to Mun and Minmus.

“The KOL stations are a stepping stone to stations on and around the moons. Approximately half of the projected work will be research and development of tools and techniques to facilitate those stations.”

He pressed a button again. The slide had arrows from Kerbin to the other planets.

“And trips further out. If things are going to fail or go very wrong. Help is a few hours away in a KOL station rather than a life time away.”

“So, Khenry,” someone said, “there’s going to be real science done and not any of Walt’s TV stunts?”

“Sorry Jose,” Khenry said. “Walt’s got some hours on the slate. He promises that it will be less stunt work. Besides you’ll be in shirt sleeves and not in a suit.”

“So what are the rotations going to be like,” someone else asked.

“Every three months to start,“ Khenry said. “Once things are up and running we’ll stretch it to six months. Half of the crew will rotate every three months.”

“As much as I don’t mind hanging around in the black,” a third kerbal said. “The stepping stones are a good line for the press. But the supply ships mass as much as the science missions we’re running now. Then there is cost of the station and crew. Most of it we can figure out from those. We don’t really gain anything more for the amount we’re spending.”

Khenry frowned and peered into the crowd. He wondered if it was a real question or a plant by Walt. But, it didn’t matter. It was a question that would be asked by some reporter when they sat out there.

“The first reason I’ve touched on. If something is going to break you want to break in Lo-KO and not three quarters of the way to Jool. Help is a few hours away in Lo-KO or it’s a half hour to the surface if you have to leave quickly. Knowing how to prevent a problem is better than knowing how to fix it.

“Second, if you want to spend a year and change inside something with the interior volume of a fridge, in your suit… well some of the others can tell you how much fun it is doing it for a full week.

“The third reason has to do with the first. It’s what we don’t know. It’s really hard to plan against what you don’t know about. It’s hard enough planning against what we do know about. The KOL station will let us know what we don’t know about.”

He paused for a moment. “Any other questions?” He paused again. “Okay. Moving along.”

Edited February 15, 2017 by steuben